Mom Forced Out Of Church For Breastfeeding aims To Change Georgia Law

[The Straight Story]

Nirvana Jennette, Mom Forced Out Of Church For Breastfeeding, Aims To Change Georgia Law

Nirvana Jennette, a mom of four from Camden County, Georgia says she was forced out of church for breastfeeding her baby. Church leaders asked her to breastfeed in the bathroom and implied they could have arrested her for “lewd behavior.” The most egregious statement? She told news station WSAV that her pastor compared her breastfeeding to a stripper performing.

According to Fox 30 WAWS, although Georgia state law allows a mother to nurse her child anywhere, Jennette could face public indecency charges. She wants her message to be heard loud and clear -- breastfeeding is natural and moms who want to feed their children in public should be protected. To that end, she's decided to stage a nurse-in and is seeking to establish legislative change for the State of Georgia.

On March 5th, Jennette will stage the "Georgia Statewide Nurse-In" at the Woodbine Courthouse and is calling for moms and supporters to join her via Facebook. Nurse-in protests are becoming much more common -- recently, moms breastfed in front of Facebook's headquarters after nursing photos were wrongfully removed from the social network. And after mom, Michelle Hickman, was shamed for breastfeeding at a Target store, she organized a nationwide nurse-in that took place in several retail locations.

The Georgia Statewide Nurse-In, aims not only to spread awareness and support for breastfeeding moms, but to change the law. As Jennette writes in her petition letter:

Currently Georgia state law allows a mother to nurse her child anywhere that mother and child have permission to be, but there is no enforcement provision. A law without enforcement protects no one. New legislation would provide for civil action against anyone subjecting a nursing mother to harassment or discrimination in violation of the current state breastfeeding law, as well as protection from all indecent exposure laws.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/nirvana-jennette-georgia-nurse-in_n_1297667.html?ref=parents

[hlthe2b]

1. Unbelievable... These "religious" men really really really hate women...

How brainwashed must women be to remain tethered to this culture? Ok, brainwashed may be unfair, because some lack the education (home-schooled), economic resources (kept dependent on men) and social support (patriarchal influences) to walk away.

I so wish the more liberal Christian groups would become much louder in fighting against these kind of attitudes and on these issues.

[pipi_k]

2. It must really suck

(no pun intended) when some nursing mom comes along and spoils the sexual fantasies of all those poor men.

Imagine, using a breast for its intended purpose!!!!

[RC]

4. Yes, breast are for giving the female enough pleasure, so a male

can have better chance of having his way with her. Milk is for cows.


(For the easily offended, type A personalities, this is meant as a spoof, sarcasm, put down, of those that waste way too much effort in denying women their full and rightful place in society.)

[Justice wanted]

3. What is it that men (I know not all men BUT men in general) hate women. Breastfeeding is

probably one of the most beautiful sight I could see. I'm not trying to sound like a pervert I just mean when my friend visit me a few years ago and had to breastfeed she her son it was so natural to me. She feed her son and we talk like nothing major was going on but when she did look down at her son her eyes had a sparkle of love you don't see that often.

[Odin2005]

5. Change the law in GEORGIA? Good luck, ain't gonna happen.

[HockeyMom]

6. Would you eat your lunch in a public toilet?

Babies shouldn't have to either. I always carried a lightweight blanket with me, threw it over my shoulder, and let my daughter nurse whenever and wherever she wanted to. 99.9% of the people around me in public places had no idea what I was doing. I brought her ONCE to a public toilet, and swore NEVER AGAIN.


BTW, this was 27 years ago. Once again, we are going backward in time.

[laundry_queen]

8. That doesn't work for every baby though

My first was a horrible nurser - she was born with a weak suck and so the boob literally had to be HELD in her mouth at all times. I had to be able to see what I was doing. So, blankets didn't work for me. I was unable to latch her on and cover her up, I had to keep her face and my boob exposed somewhat so I could help her nurse. I suppose my point is that it shouldn't matter if some boob is showing, the whole boob is showing or, as is likely to happen expecially as the baby gets older, there's nipple showing because of a curious baby suddenly unlatching. The point is that people have to get over themselves, this is how babies eat and that is what boobs are for.

BTW I used to try to nurse in the washrooms as well. It was disgusting and never worked out well anyway, so I gave up. I started nursing where ever my daughter got hungry, and if someone gave me a nasty look, I'd stare them down with a 'come make a comment I dare you to' look. Never did have someone say anything nasty to me with any of my 4 breastfed babies, but had an AWFUL lot of compliments - usually from elderly ladies who told me they were so glad to see such a beautiful sight in public.

[undeterred]

7. Mary never nursed Jesus except in a barn.

[CTyankee]

9. Many artists in the Gothic and Renaissance painted Mary breastfeeding the infant Jesus.

Leonardo and Michelangelo both did one. Here is an interesting weibsite listing all the painters and providing links to each one's version of Maria Lactans: http://fisheaters.com/marialactans.html

[undeterred]

10. Those naughty artists painted and sculpted realistic mens bodies too

which would also have horrified fundie church leaders.

[CTyankee]

16. well, that's why fig leaves were put in strategic places!

[Black and Gold]

11. I can see it either way...

On one hand, I understand that it is a natural thing to breastfeed your baby.

However, on the other hand, peeing is also a natural thing.

That doesn't mean it is acceptable to pull out your penis and pee in a cup right in the middle of a public place.

[OriginalGeek]

12. You really don't see the difference?

between life-giving nourishment and waste product?

Pee and shit stink. We don't do them in public because they stink.

[Aerows]

14. Getting rid of waste products

Can also contaminate an area with harmful bacteria. THAT's why people don't pee and poop in public. A woman nursing a baby isn't going to give people diseases - peeing and pooping in public areas CAN.

That argument is ridiculous.

[pnwmom]

15. There is a huge difference between food and bodily waste.

If you don't think so, then try eating some of both.

[Black and Gold]

18. Technically..

pee is sterile and you actually can drink it.

I wouldn't, but the waste vs. food argument is silly.

Both are things secreted from a person's body regardless of where it ends up after it is out of your body.

[vanlassie]

19. I think you are not serious and that you like to stir things up.

However, this is DEAD serious business and your obnoxious input is a juvenile distraction- please go somewhere else to be annoying, ok?

[Black and Gold]

21. What is obnoxious about what I said?

Because I can see the other side of the argument?

What is different in principle between going #1 in public and breastfeeding in public?

[moriah]

22. Is a cup the proper receptacle for pee?

Unless the person is going to drink the pee...

(Edit to add: if a person is going to drink the pee -- right then, in front of witnesses -- then sure, let them do it in public. I'd Youtube that shit!)

[pnwmom]

25. You try subsisting on sterile pee and I'll try subsisting on sterile milk.

We'll see who lives longer.

[etherealtruth]

17. Kinda like seeing it as the difference ...

... between ignorance and enlightenment.

[jwirr]

20. Just a little history on this. Congregations used to separate the men and women to their own side

of the aisle in church for this purpose. Later churches were built with a little room at the back of the church to be used for this purpose. Today some churches I have been in still have nurseries. This church she goes to apparently does not have any alternatives better than the bathroom.

[vanlassie]

23. I think the seperation of mothers with babies was so the babies could make noise?

[jwirr]

28. Could be but they did not have bottle feeding back then so it was probably both. The rooms at the

back was also for noise.

[MineralMan]

24. Yes, because we all know that Jesus was bottle-fed...

Jesus loves the little children.
All the children of the world.
Boys and girls and all the rest,
Unless they're nursing at the breast.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

[HopeHoops]

26. Yeah, a hungry screaming baby is SO much better in church.

[Tsiyu]

27. No logic explains the agitation and hysterics of the "church elders."

All scientific data prove the superiority of this type of infant nutrition. So why can't these men accept science?

Clean, wholesome guys like these push the "men are more logical; therefore they must be the head" concept - males are the gender to whom the silly ninny irrational females must submit. For their own good.

But here these men are being silly ninnies. Illogical. Irrational.

These mammaphobic ministers are cutting the chances of survival of their own future. Brilliant move.

Selective mental superiority, must be.

[Nye Bevan]

29. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Americans are *so* weird about breasts.

In Europe women breastfeed everywhere and nobody bats an eyelid.